Life…

The past week has been a complete write off. I don’t even have any excuses, I just lacked the energy or enthusiasm to do much of anything which is reflected below. This week I have to make the effort though, I’m falling behind too quickly.

Thankfully it will be at least in part a peaceful week. My boys left for their school camp this morning and will be back Wednesday, and my daughter leaves for her camp tomorrow – she is off to Canberra, our nation’s capital – until Friday. My oldest is still at home but she spends 99% of her time in her room so I can pretend she is isn’t here:)

What I Am Reading Today

It had been Mother’s secret and mine, one passed down through the de Winter women for generations. I would ensure it was kept that way, until I was ready to pass it on. When Anneke Sheldrake is forced to find a way to support her family after her father is lost at sea, she turns to the business by which her mother’s family once prospered: brewing ale. Armed with her Dutch mother’s recipes and a belief that anything would be better than the life her vindictive cousin has offered her, she makes a deal with her father’s aristocratic employer: Anneke has six months to succeed or not only will she lose the house but her family as well. Through her enterprise and determination, she inadvertently earns herself a deadly enemy. Threatened and held in contempt by those she once called friends, Anneke nonetheless thrives. But on the tail of success, tragedy follows and those closest to her pay the greatest price for her daring. Ashamed, grieving, and bearing a terrible secret, Anneke flees to London, determined to forge her own destiny. Will she be able to escape her past, and those whose only desire is to see her fail? A compelling insight into the brewer’s craft, the strength of women, and the myriad forms love can take.

What I Plan To Read This Week

(click the covers to view at Goodreads)

Ella, sweet Ella, you were meant to be mine. You can’t begin to imagine all the things I want to do to you. When the time is right, I will come for you . . . A series of hand-delivered letters leaves Ella scared for her life. Someone is watching her. Wanting her. Someone promising revenge. Desperate for the nightmare to end, Ella will do anything to discover the truth. Even join forces with a man who comes with his own danger warning . .

In the latest thriller by the Edgar-nominated author of Joe Victim, someone is helping rape victims exact revenge on their attackers, prompting an edge-of-your-seat, cat-and-mouse chase between old friends, detectives Theodore Tate and Carl Schroder. Carl Schroder and Theodore Tate, labeled “The Coma Cops” by the media, are finally getting their lives back into shape. Tate has returned to the police force and is grateful to be back at home with his wife, Bridget. For Schroder, things are neither good nor bad. The bullet lodged in his head from a shooting six months ago hasn’t killed him, but, almost as deadly, it’s switched off his emotions. When the body of a convicted rapist is found, obliterated by an oncoming train, Tate works the case, trying to determine if this is murder or suicide. The following night, the bodies of two more rapists surface. It’s hard to investigate when everyone on the police force seems to be rooting for the killer. There’s a common plea detectives get from the loved ones of victims: When you find the man who did this, give me five minutes alone with him. And that’s exactly what someone is doing. Someone is helping these victims get their five minutes alone. But when innocent people start to die, Tate and Schroder find themselves with different objectives, and soon they’re battling something they never would’ve expected: each other.

‘Love comes out of nowhere for most of us, when we least expect it . . . this young man has flown into your heart and made a nest.’ Amidst the carnage of Gallipoli, British nurse Claire Nightingale meets Australian Light Horseman Jamie Wren. Despite all odds, they fall deeply in love. Their flame burns bright and carries them through their darkest hours, even when war tears them apart. Jamie’s chance meeting with Turkish soldier Açar Shahin on the blood-stained battlefield forges an unforgettable bond between the men. It also leaves a precious clue to Jamie’s whereabouts for Claire to follow. Come peacetime, Claire’s desperate search to find Jamie takes her all the way to Istanbul, and deep into the heart of Açar’s family, where she attracts the unexpected attention of a charismatic and brooding scholar. In the name of forgiveness, cultures come together, enemies embrace and forbidden passions ignite – but by the breathtaking conclusion, who will be left standing to capture Nurse Nightingale’s heart? A heart-soaring novel of heartbreak and heroism, love and longing by a powerhouse Australian storyteller

Love hurts… When aspiring writer Guinevere Beck strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe works, he’s instantly smitten. Beck is everything Joe has ever wanted: She’s gorgeous, tough, razor-smart, and as sexy as his wildest dreams. Beck doesn’t know it yet, but she’s perfect for him, and soon she can’t resist her feelings for a guy who seems custom made for her. But there’s more to Joe than Beck realizes, and much more to Beck than her oh-so-perfect façade. Their mutual obsession quickly spirals into a whirlwind of deadly consequences . . . A chilling account of unrelenting passion, Caroline Kepnes’s You is a perversely romantic thriller that’s more dangerously clever than any you’ve read before.

A rare, beguiling and brilliant ghost story from the Miles Franklin Award winning author. Picking up her pace, Frances saw a woman in the leaf-hung depths of the garden. She wore a long pink dress and a wide hat, and her skin was a creamy white. There came upon Frances a sensation that sometimes overtook her when she was looking at a painting: space was foreshortened, time stood still. When Frances met Charlie at a party in Melbourne he was married with a young son. Now she and Charlie live in Sydney with her rescue dog Rod and an unshakeable sense that they have tipped the world on its axis. They are still getting their bearings – of each other and of their adopted city. Everything is alien, unfamiliar, exotic: haunting, even. Worlds of meaning spin out of perfectly chosen words in this rare, beguiling and brilliant ghost story by Miles Franklin Literary Award-winning writer Michelle de Kretser

I

n A Fig at the Gate, author Kate Llewellyn, now in her seventies, embraces a new phase in her life, asking the question, ‘How does one live well?’ Following the joyful crafting of her gardens in the Blue Mountains (The Waterlily) and north of Wollongong (Playing with Water), Kate creates a new garden near the sea in Adelaide, planting olives, plums, limes and blood oranges, learning how to keep poultry, setting a duck on eggs. Delight and enrichment come with the learning of new skills, being close to family and old friends, long companionable beach walks, rediscovering old recipes, food and wine. Wise and joyful, accepting what she cannot change while relishing what she has, Kate shares the beauties and frailties of the human condition and shows us what the gifts of ageing can bring.

Related

You know I think we all have our moments and times of the energy tide just ebbing a little. Mind you I think your low tide, is bigger than my high tide! I like the sound of A Fig at the Gate so have gone over to Goodreads to add it to my ‘to read’ list. Perhaps as I near retirement it may have some wisdom for me. Look forward to your review of it once you have read it.

Hey, I think we all have those times when we seem to be lacking energy. I read YOU a little while ago and enjoyed it–very creepy, though quite interesting to get inside the mind of a stalker. I think what sealed the deal on this one for me is that his victim is not all she seems …

Hope you find some energy and mojo this week … it’s a little daunting getting behind but you still read quite a bit. The kids being away might free things up a bit? I’d love to read Nightingale, hope it’s as good as it sounds.

I hope you enjoyed some quiet time this week and that the children had/are having great experiences away from home.

Can’t wait to read your review of The Cure for Dreaming, I was hoping to read the ARC but didn’t get time before it archived… if you enjoy it I may buy a copy. Sounds interesting.

Yesterday I started listening to ‘Before I go to Sleep’, so far it’s very good. I don’t know how I missed this title but it’s being made into a movie with Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth… have you read it?

I hope you managed to get some time to yourself with some of the kids away Shelleyrae. I can certainly relate to the lack of energy in posting this week (and the last couple of weeks!). It’s especially hard when outdoors looks so enticing!